“There is a curious woman in my neighbourhood. She appeared two months ago and strolls around the building that sits on the corner of my block. Every morning I see her walking past on my way to the streetcar stop and again after work. Around and around she goes. I’ve never seen her in any of the stores the building houses—the grocery, the post office, the pharmacy, or the coffee shop. Sometimes she stands, staring into space when I pass. She doesn’t seem to notice me, or that I notice her—two invisibles.

She wears the same thing most days—an olive-coloured three-tiered skirt, an over-sized brown leather jacket, and weathered cowboy boots. I imagine a nice body under her many layers. Her straight blonde hair is well past her shoulders. And her skin is tanned with freckles, natural, not one of those fake carroty rub-ons.”

“Walking Past” is included in my first short story collection, Men and the Drink, which is under consideration at several publishers.